Coffee Appreciation

the lords day, i know, i'm sorry.

Sounds like an idea

Keen, sounds like an excellent idea. Can it include flat white/milkcrate up in soho? (antipodean bias yasee)

http://theotherblackstuff.ie/placesandfaces/london-cafe-crawl-and-square-mile-tasting/

Coffee ride route: Borough, Soho, easy to route the stops. What about west and north? Tupelo Honey in Camden does an okay espresso

Here's a starting point. I've added a bunch of well-known cafe's to a google map:
London Coffee Crawl

http://theotherblackstuff.ie/placesandfaces/london-cafe-crawl-and-square-mile-tasting/

yeah i went to that tasting and got talking to those guys. one of them (colin) is now the irish barista champion. really nice guys.

Keen, sounds like an excellent idea. Can it include flat white/milkcrate up in soho? (antipodean bias yasee)

yeah the other person that suggested it was matt from milkbar, i'm basically waiting for him to sort out the bianchi pista that he just got given.

as for a route. it would probably start in borough for monmoth, move on into soho for flatwhite/milkbar, fernandez and wells, perhaps another monmoth, then either go out to beas of bloomsburys, or lantana. then head east, hit up gwilyms cart at columbia market, go on up to taste of bitter love on hackne road, maybe tina we salute you in dalston, maybe counter in victoria park, (i need some more suggestions that aren't monmoth or square mile to mix it up)
i'm hoping that i can convice james to open the square mile roastery so we can try out some incredible filter coffees at some point as well.

that's just me thinking aloud, so i'm hoping to add some more places to the list and diversify it a little bit as well.

Good stuff Hippy.

What do people reckon to the big pot of coffee in the Nordic Bakery (Golden Square)? Different style to the barista-based ones, perhaps. Wouldn't really fit with Ross's proposed route.

Ross, wanna add your suggestions to the map?

http://theotherblackstuff.ie/placesandfaces/london-cafe-crawl-and-square-mile-tasting/

Good stuff Hippy.

What do people reckon to the big pot of coffee in the Nordic Bakery (Golden Square)? Different style to the barista-based ones, perhaps. Wouldn't really fit with Ross's proposed route.

nah the nordic bakery is about 5 seconds from fernandez and wells isn't it?

i'm totally open to all suggestions, like i said if we end up hitting up a whole bunch of squaremile/monmoth customers it'll get a bit boring in the end, so different is good!

cinnamon bun-tastic.

Got hold of a couple of grinders on eBay a while ago - the second arrived from Germany yesterday. Was pretty disgusting actually - it had beans still in it, and needed to be totally stripped and cleaned. It's the one on the left by the way... The bigger one cost £12 and the smaller, £4. If I'm honest, I think the grounds are much more consistent from the cheaper one - plus it's small enough to take away on my travels.

I'm only using cheap beans I picked up from Whittards, but I'm actually quite impressed with the grind. I've pushed up the levels so the fineness is more visible, but I might get some oily espresso beans and see if I can use the fine grind for the espresso machine - I certainly seem to be getting much finer grounds than most pre-packed shop-bought stuff (like illy and Lavazza). Anyone reckon this is worth a try?

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nah the nordic bakery is about 5 seconds from fernandez and wells isn't it?

i'm totally open to all suggestions, like i said if we end up hitting up a whole bunch of squaremile/monmoth customers it'll get a bit boring in the end, so different is good!

You could include Vergnano and Bar Italia as a traditional Italian counterpoint to the Antipodean / London style coffee from the usual suspects.

May put to bed the idea of Italian coffee being the best in the world, unless you love the Robusta.

Rules for a cafe ride:

1) You must be on a bike whose performance vastly exceeds your own
2) Said machine must be spotlessly clean and should have little to no sign of sustained use
3) Best riding clothes must be worn: ideally something suited to a Rapha photoshoot
4) Distance travelled should not exceed 5 miles
5) erm, that's it...

hehe too true Mouse, too true. :)

1. - Definitely
   
2. - No Chance
   
3. - Best riding clothes = shorts with mud and holes.
   
4. - Is 180 mile round trip by train OK?
   
5. - I got a Monday - Friday cafe ferry if that helps.
   
   

Ok, so when are we going to make this happen? Early one Saturday?

it's up for a vote. i picked a sunday because gwilym works on a sunday but not on a saturday and taste of bitter love is open on sunday but not saturday.

however dose espresso is open on a saturday but not a sunday.

Sunday morning.

Saturday morning.

Just messing. Not bothered really since I'm probably out either way.

Sounds like a Sunday to me. Which one? 3 or 10 May?

Well I definitely can't do either of those, Tour of Ireland Fail.

17th or 31st?

i like the sound of this.

btw i had a dose espresso on friday and thought it was very excellent.

i'm going to WBC in atlanta on the 15th/16th then extending it into a holiday so won't be back til the 30th now..